past the energy and theatrics we talked about today. ezra kline writes in the "washington post" today, quote, for the most part this is romney's strategy being purposefully vague about the nature of his policies paid off. here's an example. >> governor romney's central economic plan calls for a $5 trillion tax cut. >> virtually everything he said about my tax plan is inaccurate. >> for 18 months he's running on this tax plan, and now, five weeks before the election, he's saying that his big, bold idea is never mind. >> let me repeat what i said. i'm not in favor of a $5 trillion tax cut. >> joining me now is ezra kline, who is an msnbc policy analyst. ezra, thank you for your time. >> good afternoon. >> let's talk about the headline there, the vagueness here. if that is the reason mitt romney won, is that further proof that the president did not step up with the challenge that was needed to assert himself regarding this vagueness? >> i don't think there's any doubt that president obama underperformed last night, but mitt romney kind of